Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 503 i GAY TIMES

DRAG RACE ALL STARS 5 Early 2020 It’s been less than a year since both Monet X Change and Trinity the Tuck controversially sashayed away on All Stars 4 with $100,000 doollahz each and a spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame, yet it’s ruturning for another fierce instalment. With fan-favourite queens such as Shea Coulee, Jujubee, Miz Cracker, Alexis Mateo and Ongina rumoured to make a comeback, as well as a slight shift in the format which will see lip-sync assassins return each week, this could very well be the best season since All Stars 2. But will they top Read U Wrote U and that infamous Shut Up and Drive showdown between Alyssa Edwards and Tatianna? Whatever the case… no jury and just one winner please. AJ…

In partnership with Last month saw the conclusion to a Rainbow Laces campaign never so visible and - judging by the action of some fans - still so necessary. For some of us, the sight of gay symbolism blending with the boots, flags and stadia of our national game was spine-tingling, for others old habits proved harder to break. At Stamford Bridge, chants of ‘Chelsea Rent Boys’ from West Ham fans throughout were almost encouraging in their backwardness - better dated-homophobia with a shelf-life than anything more sophisticated or sinister. One week later, the same group of players faced more abuse as they took on Everton at Goodison Park - Big Dunc’s debut soured by home fans abuse. Their target? A diverse and youthful Chelsea side cast in the image…

When you’re a big, proper, grown-up travel journalist with the world at your feet and air miles coming out of your ears (that’s actually an anagram), the one thing everyone wants to know is ‘What’s your favourite place?’ A far-flung spa in the middle of the jungle? A bustling metropolis with all the right shops and clubs and bars? An exclusive tropical island with deserted beaches and no coconut ever served without a straw in it? They’re nice, of course, but the answer, when all things are considered, and of course this is a personal opinion, might just be a funny little town two hours outside of Los Angeles and not much further outside San Diego built in the middle of a desert on the San Andreas fault. Yep, when…

Some places are interesting because you can’t quite see the point of them. Not quite the case with Monaco but still it’s puzzling as a… town? Country? Principality? What even is it? And why is Topshop boss Sir Philip Green everywhere you look? Oh, tax reasons. Now we remember. A playground for the super-rich is part of what Monaco is for and as you fly in on your helicopter from Nice airport (a car is almost as quick taking under half an hour, but this is Monaco, baby!), you see it clinging to mountains with even higher snow-capped mountains behind, every bit like Hong Kong, an outbreak of high-rises in the middle of nowhere. And yet somehow it’s not modern at all. In the 1860s this was just a bunch…

SEX EDUCATION: SEASON (on Netflix from 17 January) Coming-of-age dramedy Sex Education became one of Netflix’s most successful shows ever when it premiered early in 2019, garnering over 40 million viewers in its first week of release and receiving acclaim from both critics and viewers at home, thanks in part to its diverse representation and tackling of sensitive subjects. There were heartwarming moments, genuinely educational lessons to be learned, and… banana blowjobs. The show’s highly-anticipated second season will see the arrival of new students – as well as a chlamydia outbreak – at Moordale Secondary, while Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) will explore his new-found confidence after gaining acceptance from his father, and we’ll finally find out what happens to Adam (Connor Swindells) after he was shipped off to military school. Get…

Despite his home country having strict laws against homosexuality (a remnant of British colonial-era rule), Alex has been singing about same-sex love and desire for years, from proclaiming that “these boys are all the same” on deliciously lo-fi 2016 track Stoop So Low through to recalling a memorable date with another man at East London’s queer bar Dalston Superstore on tender new ballad Superstore. It may seem like a risk to be so open about his sexuality in a homophobic environment, but Alex says his personal experiences have been mostly positive. “It feels great to be openly gay, it feels great that I can talk about these issues with people who are outside of my community as well, because I feel like that’s something I’ve always wanted to do, to…

ETERNALS 6 November Set at the beginning of the universe, The Eternals will focus on an immortal alien race of the same name created by the Celestials, who are sent to Earth to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, The Deviants. The 25th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has an ensemble cast, featuring the likes of Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Gemma Chan as Sersi, Kit Harrington as Dane Whitman, Bryan Tyree Henry as Phastos and Lauren Ridloff as Makkari. It will be historic for the franchise because it will be the first Marvel film to feature an out-and-proud superhero. Kevin Feige – Marvel Studios president - said of an unidentified character: “He’s married. He’s got a family.…

As we embark on a new decade, it’s perfect timing for a fresh perspective on modern love, life and community. The 10s saw the digital explosion of dating apps, ushering in a new way to connect with people and potential partners. That has, however, come with its healthy amount of challenging issues and problematic behaviours. Finding love, for some, became loaded with the risk of prejudice, discrimination and dishonesty. A new social network and dating app is dismantling that culture, taking digital connections and modern dating into the future. TAIMI prides itself in currently being the only social network and dating app for LGBTQ people. There is no other product on the market that combines both of those things. Its users don’t just log on for a hook-up, but rather…

They’ve become quite the thing, these country houses where everything’s super cool and yet reassuringly old-school, haven’t they? It’s Gosford Park or Downton Abbey but without the starch that Soho House has done superbly at Babington and at Farmhouse - but we’ll eat our foundation garments if it’s been done better than at Heckfield Place. With 400 acres and two lakes, one of which you can wild swim in, and a 17th-century manor house to play with, they’ve struck the exact right balance between chic and contemporary and authentically historic. Walk in and you can see right through the house, across a terrace onto the rolling countryside and those lakes. In autumn its an uprising of colour while in summer the place leaks out onto those lawns, where you can…

‘I am a gay cruise virgin,’ I tell someone dressed as Eartha Kitt drinking a Long Island Ice Tea through a straw so as not to spoil lips that have taken an aaaaage to apply, even though it’s only halfway through the afternoon. And hot in that sun! ‘Please be gentle with me.’ Not that this is strictly speaking a gay cruise, you understand, even though the sheer numbers of men dressed in something a) very tight and revealing or b) very flamboyant and time-consuming to put together would seem to suggest that it was. No, this is VACAYA, a new cruising kid on the block – created by a bunch of clever people formerly off-of Atlantis and RSVP, so they know their shizz – and this is the world’s…

HEALTHY SPIN. If you’re anything like us, half the battle of getting to the gym is drumming up the motivation to actually leave the house. It’s why home fitness is fast becoming big business. London’s most popular boutique fitness studio, 1Rebel, has announced a partnership with fitness equipment brand TechnoGym to meet this increasing demand. The studio has launched RIDE LIVE where users can hop on their spin bike and tune into 1Rebel’s most theatrical and blood-pumping classes that are either live-streamed right into your home or can be played from a library of pre-recorded Rides. Having the latest fitness tech in your home doesn’t come cheap, with the TechnoGym bike costing £2,450. However, as part of this new partnership 1Rebel are offering finance plans to remove the upfront cost…

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE One piece of pro-LGBTQ legislation that is guaranteed to pass this year is the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Costa Rica. At the start of 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that several American countries needed to legalise same-sex marriage. Although some have actively resisted, Costa Rica was fairly compliant. However, the country fell into a general election, where same-sex marriage became a main issue. Opponents to legalisation were beaten, and in August 2018 the country’s Supreme Court ruled that legislation allowing same-sex marriage had to be legal by May 2020, otherwise it would automatically become legal. Thailand is also on its way to bring in same-sex partnerships, which offers some of the same rights as marriage, this year. Some of the main benefits of the…

THE BOYS Late 2020 Over 20 years following the landmark success of Queer As Folk, Russell T Davies will return to Channel 4 with another LGBTQ-centred show. The Boys follows three young people who move to London in the early 1980s, just as the HIV/AIDS crisis started to unfold. Starring Years & Years singer Olly Alexander in the lead role of Ritchie Tozer, the show will remember those we lost during the epidemic but also celebrate the colourful and vibrant LGBTQ community during the era as they rose up against social and political resistance. Year by year, episode by episode we will see the increasing prejudice queer men faced during the decade, but also how they came together as a community to overcome it. Neil Patrick Harris, Keeley Hawes, Omari…

Eight years ago, self-described “professional weavologist” and “relatable queen” Miles Jai became a viral sensation after the release of LIKE MAH STATUS; a two-minute clip in which he critiques and parodies ‘like4like’ culture on social media. Like Christina Aguilera’s Bionic, it was ahead of its time, because the state of social media now? It’s… changed, we’ll just say that. “I used to have so much fun on social media, it was like a game, but now I want to escape it,” Miles tells us over the phone. “Social media in the next eight years will hopefully not be like Skynet from Terminator 2, let’s get as far away from that as possible. You don’t need Twitter or Facebook having control of the government.” Here, we talk to Miles about how…

As proud Stonewall Diversity Champions, members of the Open for Business Coalition and supporters of this year’s GAY TIMES Honours 500 celebration, Tesco has made it its mission to not only support its LGBTQ employees but to support LGBTQ people across the globe. “For the last few years in the UK we have supported Switchboard and raised money for them, and in Ireland, we support the Belong To youth LGBTQ charity,” says David Page, UK & ROI Communications Director for Tesco. David - who joined the company in 2018 - is also executive sponsor for Out at Tesco, one of the largest LGBTQ colleague networks in Europe with more than 3500 (and growing) members. It was also named Colleague Network of the Year 2017 by Stonewall Scotland and Colleague Network…

Where is it? Rue du Temple, which is Le Marais, which is probably where you ought to be anyway. Sure, you can go all fancy-pants in the 16th (check out Brach if you do. Philippe Starck designed it, the restaurant’s sexy-as, and the roof gets all the best views of l’Eiffel T’) or go all nouveau street-walker down Pigalle, but Le Marais is still the rinkiest, dinkiest, most gorgeous, most LGBTQ-est neighbourhood in Paris, with the boutiques, patisseries, bistros and well-cut pantalons to match. Why so lovely? We could just say ‘location’ three times, throw in an exclamation mark, and be done with it. But Sinner ain’t no shrinking Le Marais also-ran. The third hotel from the EVOK group (Nolinksi and Brach – the place we mentioned up there –…